5 Ways Ecommerce Retailers Can Maximize Showrooming

How often do you pull out your phone to check a competitor’s price when you’re walking down the aisle of a store?

What about to check product reviews?

How many times do you go to the store to check out a product but end up ordering it online?

Showrooming is when consumers go to a store to check out a product before buying it online, whether from the same retailer or another eCommerce site. This isn’t a surprising concept, given the mobile world we live in today.

Of course the fear of many brick-and-mortar retailers is that they will lose business to an online competitor because of showrooming. Best Buy has recently fought back against showrooming by offering a price match guarantee that includes major online competitors.

How do eCommerce retailers maximize the benefits of showrooming?

Provide Accurate Product Information. Make sure your pricing and inventory data are accurate because an empty shelf or high price may be one of the main reasons the consumer has turned to your site. Provide enough information for consumers to make a decision, being sure to include accurate descriptions, crisp images and product reviews.

Make Your Product Offers Irresistible. A good shipping offer just might sweeten the deal enough to convince the shopper to purchase online vs. in store.

Provide a Superior Mobile Experience. And when we say mobile, we mean smartphone. This is essential if you want to win a sale over the store that the consumer is standing in. Having a better product with great reviews and an awesome price will mean nothing if you don’t have a mobile-friendly website to make conversion easy.

Measure and Interpret. Be sure to base your decisions off of data. Measure mobile data, but be careful not to take a rise in mobile visits as a big win. With the growing use of mobile, you’re bound to see some mobile traffic increases as consumers use mobile more often. Use your data to determine if you’re meeting the needs of mobile shoppers. Look at bounce rates and conversion rates on mobile vs. desktop. Compare this data to your competitors and industry standards.

Be Consistent Across Channels. Make sure you have consistency in branding and experience from desktop to mobile to email to social media to brick and mortar store. Consistency makes conversion easier. Once you train your customers to think one way on your website, you can carry that behavior over to your other channels.